


The World Began With a Yes

by summer_days



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel Feels, Character Study, Dean Feels, Gen, I wrote this before Season 14 came out, JUST, Sam Feels, The importance of yes in Supernatural, This is really more of a Word Study, Winchester Feels, and no, feels in general, so I'm ignoring that, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-17 04:41:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16967874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summer_days/pseuds/summer_days
Summary: "The world began with a yes." - Clarice LispectorA peek into how the lives of many humans - and angels - have been impacted by a yes.





	1. Chapter 1

_Yes_.

  


A powerful word.

  


Some might argue, the most powerful word in any language.

  


Stories can begin and end with a yes.

 

* * *

 

**_Jimmy Novak. He’s a good man. He was married. Had a daughter. Claire._ **

  


Mr. Novak was a God-fearing man. A simple man in simple times, forced to complexity by a yes.

A yes that tore his family to pieces.

A yes that drove his wife to madness. His daughter to crime.

A yes that cost him his life.

  


Jimmy Novak’s yes ended his story.

  


But it was a yes that saved the world.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

Too many times now to count.

  


A yes that began the story of the young angel who loved humanity too deeply, the angel with a crack in his chassis, broken over and over but still able to pick up the pieces and be something more.

  


Jimmy’s yes may have ended his story, but it began Castiel’s.

 

* * *

 

**_John Winchester.  I can save the woman you love._ **

  


John Winchester.

A complicated man, with a rich background. Not that he was aware of any of it, of course.

  


The things he was aware of –

An absent father.

A hardworking mother.

A mysterious girl who was, for once, impressed by his encyclopedic knowledge of Led Zeppelin.

A man from the girl’s side of the family who showed up one evening, who looked at him with a bit too much familiarity, as though they had met before. A man who taught him how to draw a circle in blood, that angels are not the fluffy cherubim he had been taught they were. A man he watched fight off a redhead before John himself was thrown through a window.

And an all-powerful force, descending from the heavens, with a promise of salvation. All that was required was a yes.

And with a yes, John Winchester saved his wife.

And with a yes, John Winchester doomed his children to their inescapable fate.

 

* * *

 

Many would say being possessed by an angel is a privilege, something to hope for, to pray for.

  


Those who have experienced the act know better.

  


That yes is often the last word they ever utter.

Helpless in the backs of their own minds, underneath ancient beings more powerful than should be possible.

Unable to do anything as their bodies are used as weapons of war and destruction rather than for the healing they believed would be its purpose.

As people, animals, angels, and monsters die by their hands, often begging for mercy that is never offered.

  


_Jimmy Novak._

  


_Adam Milligan._

  


_Alfie Pike._

  


_Jacob Morgan._

  


_Stephen Schmidt._

  


_Edward Chase._

  


Their stories ended with their yes.

 

* * *

 

Angels, of course, see it as a privilege to be a vessel, to be considered worthy for such a feat.

After all, if mismatched, humans can explode after their yes.

  


But no matter.

There are always more.

  


Many an angel’s story begins with that yes.

  


_Castiel._

  


_Michael._

  


_Samandriel._

  


_Uriel._

  


_Zachariah._

  


_Ephriam._

  


And many of their stories end because of that yes.

 

* * *

 

**_This is Adam Milligan. I’m John’s son._ **

  


Adam’s story is a tragic one.

Born to a hardworking mother, visited by his father whenever the man could take time off.

Killed by a ghoul he didn’t know existed.

Restored to life by the angels for one purpose – to say yes.

  


His life ended for a second time with that yes.

  


And Michael?

  


He entered into a fight ordained from the beginning of time against a brother he hadn’t seen in eons, only to be undone by another’s yes.

 

* * *

 

**_But to be Sam and Dean Winchester…._ **

  


The Winchester brothers have had many stories through the years. To definitively say their story began or ended with a yes would be arrogant, to say the least.

Chapters of their stories, on the other hand, have begun with a yes. Others were ended by the same word.

  


The innocent chapter of the story of Sam Winchester was brought to conclusion by yes after yes after yes.

Until he was accessing a dark power no human should have.

Until he took what could have been the final step towards his destiny.

Until he was falling into a cage meant for one of the most powerful archangels, where his mind and soul would be broken over centuries.

  


Sam Winchester also ended a story with a yes. Ended _the_ story, really.

  


Truly an interesting idea, that a single human would have the power to change the story woven into the fabric of the universe.

That any being could avert something as fundamental as the apocalypse.

  


And yet he did.

His yes both saved the world, and doomed himself.

  


The rebellious chapter of the story of Dean Winchester ended with a single yes.

  


The ironic part is, this was the chapter that, if its conclusion existed, seemed as though it would have ended a decade previous.

Not here.

Not now.

Not to this angel.

  


And yet, fate is tricky that way.

Just when you think you’ve escaped it, you’re tackled to the ground and beaten into submission.

  


_Free will is an illusion._

  


And maybe it is. Maybe Dean was always destined to say yes.

Regardless, that is not to say Dean’s decision was a rash one, made in the heat of the moment.

He knew exactly what he was risking with that yes. Had to, given what he and his family had been through at the hands of many a rash yes made to the wrong being.

Dean Winchester knew the risks, and took them anyway.

_The ends justify the means._

Sam was in the same room as a being that had caused him extensive physical and psychological harm. If Dean could do anything to change that, he would.

Even if it meant saying yes.

  


However, Dean is interesting, because Dean actually helped begin a story with his yes.

With the elder Winchester’s yes, a wounded commander started a chapter that had previously been unattainable.

  


And again, it doesn’t seem right that one being could have the power to start the apocalypse, yet that seems to be a common occurrence with the Winchesters.

Power no one person should have is often found at their fingertips.

Particularly in regards to the end of the world.

 

* * *

 

Michael, of course, is unaware of any of this.

Unaware of just how much the Winchesters have suffered because of a yes.

How can he be?

Where he comes from, John Winchester has been dead for almost fifty years, Mary Campbell dead for over thirty.

Sam and Dean Winchester are names that simply do not exist, for all they were supposed to.

  


And yet, he is aware of the impact of a yes.

Just one.

Yes to him.

He knows exactly what he can do with that yes. How much power he can wield.

  


Michael is well aware he starts a new chapter with this yes.

  


So is Dean.

  


And so is Sam.

  


Because stories, after all, can begin and end with a yes.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of course, yes is not the only word that impacts lives.

Stories can begin and end with a yes.

But stories are also impacted by that word’s opposite.

By a no.

  


Some stories continue because of a no.

Others end.

 

* * *

 

**_Okay, yes. The answer is yes._ **

  


Zachariah had been elated. Finally, the ignorant little mud monkey had seen the righteous path and decided to take it.

  


He should have known better than to trust a yes from a Winchester.

An angel blade through his chin, and his essence was burning out of him, even as his commander winged his way to Earth.

 

* * *

 

**_Of course, I have a few conditions._ **

  


Dean Winchester said no.

Over and over, ending many stories and allowing his own to continue long past what fate thought should be possible.

  


Until he finally did utter that potentially fatal yes, but only time will tell if his “no” will once again win out.

 

* * *

 

**_I’m not ready to be your bitch._ **

  


Sam Winchester said yes once.

Only once, and he has done his best to never say it again.

Even standing face to face with his worst nightmare from Hell, he said no.

Even when threatened with pain - physical, mental, emotional.

  


Sam’s answer will, from now until forever, always be the same.

_No._

 

* * *

 

**_The answer is still no._ **

  


Castiel is an interesting little raven.

  


He started his existence by saying yes. Yes to his Father, then yes to his superiors.

Yes, yes, yes -

  


Until Dean Winchester taught him to say no.

  


And he has paid for his decisions to say no, with his life, with his sanity, with his family.

Yet he chose his path a decade ago.

  


To heaven, the answer will forevermore be ‘no.’

  


To the Winchesters? The only word Castiel knows is yes.

But not because someone else told him that was the right answer.

He chose this path on his own, and he continues to choose it, day after day after bloody day.

  


_Yes._

 

* * *

 

So many stories end with a yes. Even more begin with it.

  


For the Winchesters and their family, however, what matters most isn’t beginnings or endings. It’s everything in between.

  


It’s the no.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos will be adored and cherished.


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